Paracumylphenol has many uses including the preparation of disinfectants, ionic sufactants, anti-oxidants and resins. However, one of the chief obstacles that has appeared to limit its usage in these areas is its relatively high cost of preparation. Although many processes have been used to prepare paracumylphenol, the underlying price is still relatively high. Recently, substantial focus has been directed at utilizing the side and waste streams of the process for preparing phenol from cumene. However the actual process steps of purifying the paracumylphenol which is present as a side product in the phenol process has also made these particular efforts less economical. Therefore a simple, inexpensive process for preparing paracumylphenol is in demand.
A new process for preparing paracumylphenol has been developed. This process is simple, inexpensive, highly selective, and does not require any purge streams, free acid recovery, solvent recovery, rotating machinery for product recovery, waste stream treatment, product drying, and other steps.